Near-field communications, or NFC, is one of the more promising up-and-coming technologies in the mobile world. In the near future, we'll be able to make secure mobile payments or send files over a short distance with our phones--but nobody has taken that first big step to make NFC a common reality. According to a rumor, Apple may be the one to do it.
NFC is a short-range wireless communications tech, not too different from other short-range protocols like RFID (radio) and Bluetooth (or, frankly, all that new). NFC works a bit differently--it uses inductive magnetic plates to exchange information, which makes it easy and cheap to deploy, as well as secure enough to handle mobile payments. You can embed the little magnetic tags in just about anything, providing links, videos, photos, payments, or all kinds of other fun stuff. In jealousy-inducing countries like Japan and South Korea, it's already in wide use, but here in North America, it's largely unknown.
That's likely to change, though. The first tentative toe-in-the-water came from Google, whose latest Nexus flagship Android phone, the Nexus S by Samsung, was the first high-profile smartphone to include an NFC chip. But as NFC is pretty much non-existent, that little feature isn't too useful. For NFC to become as ubiquitous as it is elsewhere, it's going to need some seriously popular hardware and at least the beginnings of an infrastructure to help it gain steam.
According to Richard Doherty, director of consulting firm Envisioneering Group, Apple is planning a major push for NFC in its upcoming mobile hardware, namely the iPhone 5 and iPad 2. Apple's in a pretty good position to to that--its iTunes ecosystem has many more users than, say, Google's Checkout, as well as the ability to get merchants on board with new payment schemes (the most recent example of which would be the Starbucks mobile payment app). For Apple, this could provide a big bump for the burgeoning iAd advertising platform, but for you and me, it could just be super useful.
Doherty says Apple is working on a mobile payment terminal prototype that could be used in small stores--bodegas, mom-and-pop stores, that kind of thing--and might consider either subsidizing it or flat-out giving it away to these retailers. That's one of the better ways of getting this kind of tech out there, though it would be expensive at first.
Of course, this is just a rumor. It makes sense, considering the newness and potential of NFC, but predicting its deployment in the iPhone 5 and especially the iPad 2 (which is probably very near launch) might be premature. Apple is rarely the pioneer of major new tech like this, preferring to wait until it's mature, but for the iPhone 6? Don't be surprised if NFC is a major selling point.
【美国《大众科学》网站1月25日报道】题:下一代iPhone和iPad或包含近距离通信技术,可取代钱包进行移动支付(记者丹·诺索维茨)
近距离通信技术是未来移动世界更有发展前途的重要技术之一。在不久的将来,我们可以安全地通过手机在短距离内完成支付或传输文件。但迄今为止,还没有人迈出第一步,把近距离通信技术变成我们现实生活中的常用技术。有传言说,苹果公司或许是第一个完成这项壮举的企业。
近距离通信技术(NFC)是一种短程无线通信技术,它和无线射频识别技术(RFID)、蓝牙等其他短程协议并无太大区别。近距离通信技术的不同之处在于,它使用感应磁芯片进行信息交换,因此更容易配置、成本相对较低,而且通过近距离通信技术进行移动支付也足够安全。你可以把小小的磁芯片放在任何东西上,就能随时随地享受网络连接、视频、照片、移动支付和所有好玩的东西。在日本、韩国等国家,这种技术已经得到广泛应用,但在北美地区,近距离通信技术依然是个不为人所知的领域。
这种状况很可能被打破。第一个进行尝试的是谷歌公司。谷歌公司发布的新款智能手机NexusS(由三星电子制造)是第一款包含 NFC芯片的智能手机。尽管近距离通信技术是谷歌新款智能手机的最大亮点,但这种技术在谷歌手机上的作用并不大。要让它成为日常生活中无处不在的技术,还需要在硬件上进行提升,并为其配备相应的基础设施,以推广这种技术。
据美国预见市场研究公司的负责人理查德·多尔蒂透露,苹果公司正计划在未来的移动硬件——主要是iPhone五代手机和 iPad二代平板电脑——中采用近距离通信技术。苹果公司有充分的条件进行此类尝试:苹果的在线商店比谷歌推出的支付服务拥有更多用户,苹果公司也有能力和零售商达成新的支付计划(最新的例子是星巴克的移动支付计划)。对苹果公司来说,这为推广它的广告平台提供了一大助力,而对普通用户来说,这将是一种超级实用的技术。
多尔蒂说,苹果公司正在研究一种能在小型商店中使用的移动支付终端协议,公司可能考虑向零售商提供补贴或直接免费向零售商提供这种移动支付终端协议。这是在北美地区普及这种技术的一个好办法,虽然一开始成本有点高。
当然,这只是传言。但考虑到近距离通信技术的新鲜感和巨大潜力,人们有这种想法是合理的。然而预测苹果公司将在iPhone五代,以及iPad二代中采用近距离通信技术似乎有些过早。苹果公司向来不是追求此类新技术的先锋,而是宁愿等到技术成熟再使用。那么对iPhone六代来说呢?如果说近距离通信技术将成为iPhone六代的一个重要卖点,千万别觉得惊讶。
